So Not a Date
by justrandome
Summary: "You are blushing." Bruce noted. He couldn't repress his smile anymore. "No I'm not." Selina objected blushing fiercely. Bruce leaned back. "Sure, whatever you say, Selina." "Shut up." She retorted. "I'm not blushing." Bruce smirked. "We are so not on a date." She muttered under her breath.
1. Never Underestimate a Bored Cat

**A/N: Placed during that time period when Gotham did domestic au and Bruce moved to live with Selina in season 2.** **I realized too late that they are maybe little too comfortable around each other at this point in the timeline but fuck canon am i right?** **Also I didn't proof read this because it's five a clock in the morning and I want to sleep.**

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 **Never Underestimate a Bored Cat**

Bruce had been living in Selina's place for about couple weeks. It had been odd at first but the two of them got surprisingly well along despite their differences. Bruce woke up early where Selina often wandered out from her lair past midday rubbing her sleepy eyes. She seemed to honor her nickname by sleeping during the day and living mostly during the night. This wasn't really a problem for Bruce. He never had needed much sleep and after his parents murder he was so often plagued by nightmares that he often didn't sleep at all. If Selina noticed she didn't say anything. Bruce was thankful for that.

Because Bruce got up earlier he usually took care of the cooking. Alfred had decided to teach basic household skills because "young bachelor" like him should know how to take care of himself. Besides Selina wasn't much of a cook. She had looked Bruce funnily when he had made her breakfast (or lunch depending on your life style) for the first time. Selina even teased him a little but didn't complain when this became a habit. Selina really didn't have a kitchen or proper ingredients for that matter so Bruce had to improvise a lot. Luckily Selina seemed to be impressed even by the simplest of meals.

Despite their odd morning routine rest of the day was always different. Usually Selina showed the best places to snatch food, how to pick pocket people and some of the hotspots of criminal underworld of Gotham. These were the places that interested Bruce the most all though he was determinated to learn the streets of Gotham like the back of his hand.

Selina didn't seem to fully understand Bruce's determination but he had noticed her to smile or steal glances of him when she thought Bruce wouldn't notice. Bruce was not entirely sure what that meant but for now he had decided to push that mystery for later. First he had to fulfill… well Bruce wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to fulfill but he knew living with Selina was the right decision. Only thing that kept nagging him was how lonely and betrayed Alfred must feel but Bruce hoped he would understand and forgive him later.

Bruce was watching the morning news when he heard Selina enter the room. Sometimes she would try to sneak up upon him but it was getting harder and harder by the day. This time she did no such thing, just jumped over the back rest and landed smoothly next to Bruce.

"You are up early." He commented not taking his eyes of the television screen.

"Yeah, got bored I guess." She said. From the corner of his eye Bruce saw her trying to untangle her wild curly hair with her fingers. "Looking for something special?"

"No, just wasting time while waiting for you to wake up." Bruce said unconcernedly. That earned a light bunch to shoulder from Selina.

"What are we going to do today?" He asked when Selina stayed silent this time closing the small television and looking at her. She seemed amused having a slight playful smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Dunno yet." Selina said. Suddenly she kicked her legs to the couch and rested her head against an armrest. This meant that lower part of her feet went over Bruce's knees. She had this several times before and Bruce had learned that this was just another way to play with him so he showed no reaction other than raising his eyebrows slightly.

"What?" Her smile widened and she reached to play with Bruce's sleeve.

"When are you going to decide or are we going to spend rest of the day just lying on the couch like this?" Bruce took a little more comfortable position and letting his muscles relax.

"Hmmm, maybe I could show you where I usually feed my cats." She said still playing with Bruce's sleeve.

"That would be nice." Bruce agreed closing his eyes for a moment.

"Or maybe…" She smacked him to his head with a broken pillow causing feathers to fly around everywhere.

"Hey!" Bruce objected opening his eyes and giving her a mean look which only made Selina laugh.

"C'mon sleepyhead. That was your own damn fault." She said between bursts of giggles. Some of the feathers had landed on her messy hair making it look eerily similar to a literal bird's nest.

"Yes, I know. On the streets you have to stay alert at all times and so on." Bruce rolled his eyes trying not to laugh.

"Well that too but not what I meant." Selina tried to calm down but soon started laughing again when faced with Bruce's confused look.

"What I meant, billionaire boy, that you still can't beat me. Remember that one time when I told you that you could kiss me if you managed to hit me?" Selina smiled slyly.

"Yes I remember that." Bruce refused to be beaten by her. "But that was over a year ago. Since then I've learned much."

"Oh, did your butler teach you?" Selina teased putting her hands behind her head to get a better look at Bruce.

"I could hit you now." Bruce said.

"Could you now?" Selina sat up leaving her legs still resting on Bruce's lap. "Hmm, but where's the fun in that. How about…" She sucked her finger contemplatively. "How about if you can steal more money than me I admit that you maybe have a teeny tiny chance to beat me occasionally."

"Not good enough." Bruce demanded smelling an opportunity. "How about the loser buys the winner dinner with the money that they stole. Victor also gets to choose the meal."

"Are you saying that you are getting tired of cooking me stuff all the time?" Selina said picking feather out of her curls.

"I don't even know how you survived without me. You have no household skills." Bruce said helping Selina to get the feathers out.

"Easily, stole enough money for burgers and switched the hideout when the place got too messy." Selina shrugged.

"Do we have a deal then?" Bruce said offered his hand.

"Sure, your mistake." Selina shook his hand. "But no cheating, the money has to be stolen not from one of your bank accounts."

"I already told you. I'm learning who I am without my money. Besides, if someone is going to cheat we both know it will be you." Bruce said moving Selina's feet from his lap and standing up.

"I don't have to. There is no way you can win me." Selina said claiming the whole couch by herself.

Bruce had to admit that Selina was probably right but he was stubborn to at least lose with dignity. He walked to get his jacket. "We will count the money at six p.m. That means that we have around eight hours to get the money."

"Just don't get caught or I'll have to bust you out. You are still just a rookie, remember?" Selina reminded him from the couch. "I might take a nap before I do anything. To give you a fair chance, you know."

Bruce couldn't see her face from this angle but he could hear from her voice that she was smiling. Determined to rise above Bruce decided to let Selina have her fun. Instead he moved towards the door.

"Hey, you aren't gonna take any weapons?" Selina had sat up and looked at him worry in her eyes.

"No, I won't need any." Bruce said pulling his hood up.

"Don't play a hero on me, Bruce. Take one of my knives just for safety." Selina suggested.

Bruce met her green eyes. "Don't worry, Selina. I have a plan." With that, he left the hideout and moved to Gotham's cloudy roads.


	2. Teenagers Mess Up a Lot

**A/N:** **Proof reading? In this economy? I don't think so. Bonus for this (** **post/172005714733/so-not-a-date-part-two-teenagers-mess-up-a-lot** **) amazing thing that melanalcoholia on tumblr did for me. They write stuff too.** **Bonus points: i actually hate this chapter plis validate me.**

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 **Teenagers Mess Up a Lot**

Selina was left to stare at the closed door. After what felt like hours but was probably only a minute she stood up and tried to tame her hair. Recently she has started to experiment with makeup but she didn't still feel comfortable with it. Somewhere back at Selina's mind she remembered Barbara Kean's words. Sometimes she put on makeup for other reasons. For to hide a pimple, to look prettier. Not that she would ever admit caring about that sort of stuff. Secretly Selina wondered if Bruce ever noticed. She doubted it. He was a guy after all. Growing up maybe little too fast to Selina's taste. This learning about Gotham thing for example. Sometimes Selina had no god damn idea what was all that about. Not that she minded. Living with Bruce has been… nice. Yeah, nice was a good word for it.

While trying to find her jacket Selina planned how she would win the bet. She was not going to pay for some stupid dinner for the billionaire boy Bruce Wayne. He was not using his fortune at the moment but it didn't help in Selina's mind. After all no matter what he said he would always has his money to fall back on unlike her.

Despite what Bruce claimed Selina doubted he would be able to steal anything actually good. No need to overkill but he deserved to be put into his place. Recently Bruce has been getting little bit too confident. So what she couldn't sneak up upon him anymore. That didn't mean anything. She still had him wrapped around her finger no matter how calm and collected he acted. He was not fooling Selina.

Selina supposed she could hit one of Maroni's old hideouts that she doubted anyone alive knew about. There was always a chance it would be cleaned out since Sal Maroni's death but Penguin's takeover had taken everyone's attention from such small details. Besides it never heard anybody to snoop around.

That's how Selina made one of her biggest fuckups in her life so far. When she got to the docks not only was the place filled with Falcone loyalists looking for an easy price but they also had guns. Something that Selina did not like at all. First she had been determined not to give up but then she had gotten even deeper into this mess. She had miscalculated how well the roof was kept and long story short Selina had fallen straight through it and landed on some cargo boxes. To her luck no one seemed to have paid any attention to the crash that had knocked the air out of her body.

 _Fuckfuckfuckfuck_ , was the only thing that ran through Selina's mind. Quickly she evaluated her options. She wasn't hurt and she was still unnoticed by some miracle. There was no way to sneak out through the same way she came. If not the cargo boxes she would have broken her leg or worse.

Selina peeked from her hideout. She counted eight goons walking around her line of sight. Too many to sneak past without being noticed. Selina doubted she could test her luck any further.

Only option that she had left was to wait for them to leave. And that could take forever. No one knew where she was and Bruce wouldn't be missing her in five hours at least.

Maybe Selina could steal one of the loyalist's guns but in the end she deemed that too risky. It would be still at least seven against one and hostage situation wouldn't cut it either. These were mafia muscle, they wouldn't give a shit about their colleagues and killing a kid wouldn't be a problem.

So she laid down on her back to avoid anyone spotting her and waited. She listened what the men were talking about which was extremely boring. They were counting what they had found. All stuff that could have been hers. She wouldn't have taken it all of course. Only what she could reasonably carry.

Cursing how stupid Selina was she moved on to play with her blade. Years of using it had made her very comfortable with it. Flipping it, striking with it, all came very naturally to her now. It hasn't always been this easy but that was a time she didn't enjoy dwelling on.

Playing with the knife became dull too. She moved onto her mother's necklace. Countless times she had thought about throwing it away but never couldn't. What kind of mother left her five year old child alone in some random orphanage? Non-caring one, that's for sure. Maybe even a dead one.

Everyone seemed to think she must be dead. Selina knew better. She used to think that her mother would come back for her but now Selina had given up hope. Maybe she had been killed, maybe she just didn't give a shit about her kid, whatever it was Selina didn't care. She was a big girl now. She was over it and moving on.

Even Bruce had thought she was an orphan. Maybe even still thought but didn't want to say anything because he was nice like that. Well he was wrong. He was always wrong when it came to her.

Selina suddenly wanted to hit something. She bit her lip furiously. Bruce had a habit make her blood boil. It was funny thing, he filled Selina just as likely with an urge to punch him and with an urge to kiss him. She had once. Selina wondered if he thought about that ever. She bet he did. It was not though that she cared. Quite the opposite. She couldn't care less about some rich kid and what he thought of her. He probably had liked that snob Silver St. Cloud better anyway before she showed her true colors. Or when Selina proved what she was. Which nearly led to Bruce's death.

Okay maybe Selina cared a little what Bruce thought of her. Memory of him kissing Silver still haunted Selina which annoyed her to no end. But then again when he told what he had lied to Silver… maybe it all had been worth it.

Speaking of which "tied to her in a way that I couldn't explain, but wouldn't change, ever"? What the heck was Selina supposed to do with that? It had certainly made her smile to say the least. Actually it had made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Which she would never say out loud of course. It would make Bruce even more annoying than he already was.

Thinking about Bruce being annoying Selina realized that there was a very likely chance him winning her on this stupid bet. She could already see his face. Assuming of course Selina would get out of this mess alive.

Selina peaked over the edge to spy what the Falcone's men were doing. They had started packing their loot which was a good sign. Selina had no way of knowing what time it was but the sky was getting a darker so it must be getting late. Repressing panic she rationalized that the goons had to leave soon. They wouldn't stay the whole night. They had to be done soon. So Selina returned to her thoughts.

Next thing she knew was waking up in cold. The sky had turned to black and the warehouse was quiet. Her every muscle was hurting so she deduced she must have been sleeping for a while. Silently she checked if any of Falcone loyalists were left but she saw or heard no one so carefully like a cat Selina dropped to the ground and sneaked out to Gotham. It must have been way past six a clock. Bruce was probably pacing nervously around their hideout worrying about her. Oddly, thought of that made her smile.

Soon she reached her place. She bit her lip and pushed the door open and was immediately greeted with Bruce's serious but worried face.

"Selina? Are you alright? You didn't come when we agreed and first I thought you were just playing with me but then…" He was babbling on.

"Bruce, chill." Selina said as calmingly as she could.

Bruce clearly didn't listen because he pulled her in and started checking for any sign of harm. "Are you hurt? What happened? Where were you?"

"Bruce, seriously calm down. I'm fine." Selina tried again.

Again Bruce didn't listen.

Selina decided that she had had enough. "Hey, rich kid." She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. With a one fluid move that was almost automatic Bruce grabbed her wrist catching Selina unguarded. Bruce seemed as surprised as she felt and let her hand quickly go as if it had burned him. Some small part of Selina's brain was little disappointed by that missing how his fingers had felt.

Couple seconds of awkward silence followed as both teenagers collected themselves.

"So…" Bruce started calmly this time. "You aren't hurt?"

"No, I'm fine just some muscle pain for laying down for too long." Selina said massaging the back of her neck not finding nowhere else to put her hands without it being awkward.

"Where were you? What happened?" Bruce asked. He stepped out of the way letting Selina walk past him to the couch. She collapsed to it closing her eyes and cursing herself for a minute. When she opened them she found Bruce crouching near her head.

"I was at the docks in one of Falcone's old hideouts. I tried to rob the place but… miscalculated the situation and ended up being trapped there until the place was cleared." Selina said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It was a total mistake to go there. As soon as I got there I wasn't alone and I didn't even get the chance to rob anything."

Bruce stayed quiet for longer than Selina liked. Then a small nearly guilty smile appeared to his lips. "So does this mean I won the bet?"

Selina led out a long sigh. "I guess so." She said avoiding his eyes.

"Since you didn't get any money I suppose I will pay for the food. We can hardly call it a dinner anymore." He sounded so pleased with himself.

Selina sighed again. "What time it even is?"

"Around one in the morning."

Selina jumped to sit causing her muscles to scream in agony. "What?"

"I thought you got hurt or…" All humor had disappeared from Bruce's voice. He didn't finish the sentence and now was his turn to avoid looking at her.

Selina swung her legs down from the couch so she could face Bruce. "Hey." She said softly and reached for his hand unsurely but then thought otherwise and pulled it away praying that Bruce didn't notice. "But I wasn't hurt. If you don't count my dignity." She laughed unsurely.

Bruce lifted his head and now his deep serious eyes were staring straight to her own reading everything that he saw in them. Selina was suddenly very aware how close they were each other and how she hadn't never really noticed how much he had grown. His lips parted and Selina's mind went blank.

"Selina, I…" And then the spell was broken and Bruce stood up. Selina swallowed and hoped that she wasn't blushing. "Umm… where do you want to eat?"

To her luck Bruce turned his back on her so she could shake her head and calm down. Selina blinked several times trying to go over what just happened but none of the answers were satisfying. Her whole brain seemed to be in a state of complete chaos and finding a single coherent thought was nearly impossible.

"Selina?" Bruce had turned around again to look at her. There was a worried crease between his eyebrows that Selina found extremely cute.

She quickly repressed the thought of Bruce being cute for later. She could solve her confusing emotions some other time. Besides she most likely imagined the weirdness of the situation anyway.

"Umm… Yeah." Selina's voice cracked. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Is anything even open anymore?" That was even worse. Of course Bruce wouldn't know. He probably never went out to some shitty places when he had Alfred to cook him luxurious meals.

"I know a place. But you should rest. We can go tomorrow if you are feeling tired. I can cook you something and you can go to bed." Bruce said stepping back.

"No way." Selina stood up. She had slept most of the day and felt humiliated enough without being babysat by Bruce. "Let's go. Your treat and all."


	3. Failure Can Lead to Unexpected Victory

**A/N: This is too short, they said. Write some actual ending and not this weird vague shit, they added. Welp, I don't care and I'm tired. Oh yeah, proof reading? Don't know her.**

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 **Failure Can Lead to Unexpected Victory**

They were sitting in a really dirty burger place. Selina was opposite of Bruce devouring her burger but still somehow looking graceful even though she had sauce all over her mouth and chin.

"Hungry?" Bruce asked smiling. He had barely touched his food.

"Definitely." She answered still focusing on her burger.

"Do you want mine?" He offered. Without a word Selina snatched it.

When she was done with her first burger she slowed down. "How much money you even got?"

"Around ten bucks." Bruce said smoothly.

"Seriously?" She had a tad sauce on the tip of her nose teasing Bruce to wipe it off. He moved his palms underneath his legs to suppress that urge.

"Seriously." He said. "You have some…" He moved his other hand vaguely gesturing towards Selina's nose before returning it quickly back to safety.

"Oh. Thanks." Selina wiped her nose with her sleeve only causing it only to smidge further. It was as if this small droplet of dip had a vendetta against Bruce.

"You just... gotten it worse." Before Bruce could stop himself he reached for a napkin and wiped the sauce off from Selina's face. So much for keeping his hands to himself.

They both stayed silent for a while. Gone was their comfortable solidary from the same morning. Bruce furiously examined Selina's unfinished burger as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sooo… how did you stole those pathetic ten bucks anyway?" Selina tried teasingly.

Thankful for something to talk about Bruce answered without thinking. "I found a wallet from the ground."

"You found a wallet from the ground." Selina repeated with disbelief. She put her face to her hands. "God, you are hopeless."

"Hey," Bruce said offended. "You are the one who returned seven hours late without any money after being trapped by some low-life criminals. The great Selina Kyle beaten by some spoiled rich kid huh?"

Selina looked at her annoyed. "At least you could have lied and said you actually stole it."

Earlier Bruce had developed a rather convincing lie of him skillfully pickpocketing someone but that had gone out of the window after he had lost his cool with Selina.

"I could have but I figured you had embarrassed yourself enough without me chiming in." He smiled teasingly earning a good kick to his knee from Selina.

"Shut up." She tried to hide her smile. "At least you had to pay for our date."

With that Bruce straightened his back. "So this is a date?"

"No, I did not say that." Selina said too quickly.

"No, I heard you. You clearly said 'our date'." Bruce's lips twisted.

"Okay maybe I did but it's not like…" To Bruce's pleasure he noticed how Selina's cheeks turned to soft shade of pink which somehow made her even prettier. "It's not like we are on that kind of date." She finished lamely.

"You are blushing." Bruce noted. He couldn't repress his smile anymore.

"No I'm not." Selina objected blushing fiercely.

Bruce leaned back. "Sure, whatever you say, Selina."

"Shut up." She retorted. "I'm not blushing."

Bruce smirked.

"We are so not on a date." She muttered under her breath.

Bruce knew he had won. He didn't regret anymore that he had wiped the sauce off her face earlier. Or that he had accidentally grabbed her wrist. Not even that weird moment when he could have sworn Selina was looking at his lips. His smirk grew wider. No matter what Selina said this was definitely some kind of date.

"You are the worst thief though." Selina commented taking a bite from her burger.

"Again, I find that hard to believe after what kind of stunt you pulled earlier…"

"That was one time. When else have I failed?"

"Well there was that one time with man with the nose."

"In my defense that nose was so weird."

"What kind of excuse is that?"

Outsider would have thought the two teens dressed in worn out clothes would have been tired and seen too much too young but when that same outsider saw their happy smiles, heard their teasing voices and how they just seemed to light up whenever they managed to get a laugh from one another they would have thought the two kids would survive just fine as long as they got each other. They were too young to be truly in love but even an idiot couldn't deny there was something between them. Their easy chemistry came so naturally and their curiosity to find and test new boundaries that they seemed to miss was obvious to all those who surrounded them. Push and pull, cat and mouse, always chasing each other, always coming back to each other no matter what happened. Yeah, those teens would be alright.


End file.
